Time Saving Tips?

I like putting on makeup and love how it makes me look afterwards obviously, but my limiting factor is time. On workday mornings (mon.-fri.) I only have time for face wash, prescription acne treatment topical, serum/moisturizer, undereye cream, primer, foundation, concealer, & setting spray. Luckily that only takes me about 20-30 min. which isn't too bad I suppose. But if I ever want to do my full face (eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, eyebrows, lips, blush, etc.) that can take up to 2 hours. So I'm curious to find out how long it takes all of you to put on makeup. I'm a perfectionist and slow at doing things (not coordinated I suppose), which is a bad combo, because it takes me forever to get things done. My boyfriend said he had an ex-girlfriend who could do her full face (heavy makeup, goth-like I think) AND hair and it would only take her about 20 minutes. I couldn't believe that, but then again I'm often surprised at how quickly people can do things that take me forever. If anyone has any time-saving tips, it would be much appreciated!

Re: Time Saving Tips?

It takes me just under an hour from waking up to being out the door in the mornings- and I shower, wash/dry/style hair, and do a full face of makeup and skincare.

My best timesavers:

Decide on your outfit and makeup the night before, and lay it all out. Not having to make decisions makes things quicker.

You can multitask- For instance, I wash my face while the shower is heating up, and while the mirror is defogging in there, I'm elsewhere doing the rest of my skincare prior to tackling my hair (which is a giant time-suck).

If I didn't do my hair, I could be out the door in less than 20 minutes. Weekdays aren't a time to experiment- save that for when you have time.

Re: Time Saving Tips?

I skip acne treatment and serum in the morning cuz those work best at night anyways. I skip face wash and just wipe with a wet/damp towel, if my face is so oily I NEED to wash in the morning, that means I need to adjust my night routine. So for me it's:

I only do eyeshadow or eyeliner, and I usually don't wear mascara, blush (I've got too much naturally) or eyebrow stuff (I've got thick eyebrows). If I'm picky it takes me an hr, but 10-20min usually and my morning routine is usually just moisturizer + curled lashes + tinted lip balm (bonus, I can skip makeup remover step at night).

Re: Time Saving Tips?

On work days I tend to default to my quick beauty routine because I run out of time to do more. My absolutely minimal makeup essentials would be blush, mascara, and lip gloss. I feel like they really make your complexion come alive and can be applied in a matter of minutes (or even in the car while I'm on my way to work if I'm running super late). If I have a few extra minutes I will add in a BB cream, eye primer, and eyeliner.

When I'm going out for the evening, or on weekends it probably takes me about 30-40 minutes to do full-face makeup, with the majority of that time being spent on my eyes. I love eyeshadow, especially experimenting with different colors and blending/shading, but it's a tedious process, and one that's often too time consuming for my everyday routine.

Re: Time Saving Tips?

It takes me 40 minutes in the morning to shower, blow dry my hair and put my makeup on. 20 of those minutes are putting makeup on and I put everything on my face. I don't have any tips besides to keep moving. I don't ponder what makeup I will use each day. I kind of plan that out in my head when I chose my clothes the night before.

Re: Time Saving Tips?

I've seen magazine and blog tips on quick makeup routines but they often involve skipping entire products. Like you I prefer a very put together look and don't like to skip products or steps. Usually I have to get up early but I can share some tips on what I do when I'm running late or just running errands. I like to go as makeup free as possible when I'm not working or "going out".

Firstly, figure out what you need most to look your best. I have sparse eyebrows and ALWAYS need to at least do a little bit of brow filling and enhancing. I read somewhere that blush will give any woman a healthy glow, so after years of not wearing blush as a teenager (probably didn't really need it anyways), I started to use it in my 20's and it is now indispensable. I find mascara annoying and used to never use it until recently when lash growth serum gave me better length to work with. I much prefer smudged eyeliner to mascara to enhance my eyes. If you are skipping eyeshadow, smudged and blended eyeliner is awesome. You can wear just eyeliner too if you prefer. What works for me may not work for you. Have dark circles? Your indispensable may be under eye concealer. My friend loves dark bronzer used across her cheeks and nose bridge as blush. I tried it and it looks horrid on me but absolutely adorable and elven on her. (Yes I said Elven, like the ethereally beautiful elves on Lord of the Rings. Her pointed nose and pixie small face has always reminded me of an elf. In a good way.) She rarely does more than bronzer plus single color eyeshadow with eyeliner. My lips are deeply pigmented enough to skip lip color if I want. Without going into detail about the washing part, let's just go with the actually cosmetic part. After washing, blah blah, I do foundation/concealer. Do my eyebrows. Then I apply blush and a quick buff of bronzer. Set everything with translucent powder, including the brows. If I'm skipping eyeshadow, I apply and a smudge dark brown eyeliner near the lashline, upper only. This enhances my eyes and gives it a slightly smoky effect near the lashes. My eyes look so bare without this step! Apply lip balm or tinted lip balm, lip gloss or chubby lipstick pencil. Any lip thing that doesn't require super precise application like a traditional lipstick. In the 90's, back when we wore brown lipcolor, I realized I could do a quick makeup look with just a brown eyeliner pencil and lip balm. I used a stiffer dual eye pencil softened with a lighter (they make them better these days and you can get hard eyebrow or softer eyeliner now), did the brows, eyeliner and smudge with finger, lined and dab some on the lip, apply lip balm and blend with finger. Haha. Those were the days when I was less neurotic about my makeup.

If you don't have bad skin texture or oily skin, skip primer! Great lashes? skip mascara or liner. I think most women can skip eyeshadow to save time unless they have very dark lids. healthy flushed cheeks? skip blush! Good luck!

I get out towel dry, spray a moisturizer on, deodorant, put product in my hair, put moisturizer on my face, blow dry my hair half way (I let it air dry the rest of the way and I don't curl or flat iron my hair), put face and eye primer on, brush my teeth, then I start on my makeup for the day. Which is foundation/concealer, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, eyebrows, blush, powder, lip gloss.

haha phew! It seems like a lot but I only have a 40 minutes in the morning before I need to get my kids up and ready for daycare. I guess you just use the time you have. If I could take longer I probably would!

Re: Time Saving Tips?

I understand. Looking good makes me happy too, but so does eating healthy (and cooking healthy meals), exercising everyday, and cleaning and organizing the house. There's just not time for all of that everyday, so I feel like I have to pick and choose.